KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $61.94 Million in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 879,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,939,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of C. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after buying an additional 3,947,912 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $198,231,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 70.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,692,000 after buying an additional 1,865,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,994,000 after buying an additional 1,731,527 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on C. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial started coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Citigroup stock opened at $71.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $84.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This trade represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total value of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Citigroup Profile

Citigroup Inc, a diversified financial service holding company, provides various financial product and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. It operates through five segments: Services, Markets, Banking, U.S. Personal Banking, and Wealth. The Services segment includes Treasury and Trade Solutions, which provides cash management, trade, and working capital solutions to multinational corporations, financial institutions, and public sector organizations; and Securities Services, such as cross-border support for clients, local market expertise, post-trade technologies, data solutions, and various securities services solutions.